Sparsely populated and with a rich colonial history, Sudbury is an affluent town in Greater Boston’s MetroWest region. The United States’ oldest continuously operating inn awaits you in Sudbury, and starting in the 1920s this was the centerpiece for a proposed living history museum by car manufacturer Henry Ford (1863-1947). His plans never came to …
An archetypal hardscrabble town, Rockland on the South Shore was never ideal for farming because of its rocky terrain. Instead, industry boomed here in the 19th century with trades like shoemaking and lumber. A few of the factories from those times have since been turned into residential developments and artists’ lofts. Since the end of …
In the northern Pioneer Valley, Greenfield is a scenic old mill town, historically known for toolmaking and cutlery manufacturing. There are museums here and in nearby Turners Falls, going into detail about industry in Franklin County, and the defining role of the Connecticut River. Greenfield’s townscape is framed by an abrupt mountain ridge between the …
This town on the South Shore has special ties to the Civil War. For some 20 years Abington was the site of an annual Abolitionist meeting, held at what is now Island Grove Park, a picturesque public space next to a pond. In the 1810s the mass-production of iron tacks was pioneered in Abington, and …
Where the Powwow River flows into the lower Merrimack, Amesbury is a delightful little city in the far northeast of Massachusetts. From its earliest days Amesbury had a strong reputation for shipbuilding, and you can tap into this heritage at Lowell’s Boat Shop, still making wooden dories and skiffs by hand. In the industrial age, …
This town of just over 15,000 people sits east of the distinguished college town of Amherst, and is known for an historic fair celebrated every September. The Belchertown Fair remains a heartwarming spectacle, with time-honored attractions and events from a parade along Main Street to livestock displays. Sensational views abound in Belchertown, from the easternmost …
In Southeastern Massachusetts, the town of Raynham was originally part of the Plymouth Colony, the first permanent colony in New England, and the second in North America. Starting in the 1670s, this was the site of the colony’s first successful ironworks, using bog iron deposits that were harvested along the Forge River.. Nowadays the Forge …
On the Upper Cape, Mashpee is a town known as the headquarters for the Wampanoag Mashpee Tribe, with hundreds of members continuing to live here. The Wampanoag make up a large minority today, but up until the 1960s comprised the majority of the town’s population. The Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Museum, housed in an 18th-century homestead, …
This North Shore seaside community goes back 400 years, and has had a fishing fleet for all this time. One of Swampscott’s early residents was Deborah Moody (1586- c. 1659), a Nonconformist who later became the only woman to found a village in colonial America. In the early 1800s, Swampscott was the place where Ebenezer …
In the MetroWest area of Greater Boston, Holliston is a small town with a lot to love about it. Holliston center is the kind of downtown that instantly wins you over, with businesses that have been here for many years, taking no customer for granted. Recently, a stretch of railroad abandoned since the 1980s has …